Genesis 5:1-32

From Adam to Noah

5:1 This is the record ¹  of the family line ²  of Adam.

When God created humankind, ³  he made them ⁴  in the likeness of God. 5:2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” ⁵ 

5:3 When ⁶  Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth. 5:4 The length of time Adam lived ⁷  after he became the father of Seth was 800 years; during this time he had ⁸  other ⁹  sons and daughters. 5:5 The entire lifetime ¹⁰  of Adam was 930 years, and then he died. ¹¹ 

5:6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father ¹²  of Enosh. 5:7 Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had ¹³  other ¹⁴  sons and daughters. 5:8 The entire lifetime of Seth was 912 years, and then he died.

5:9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. 5:10 Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. 5:11 The entire lifetime of Enosh was 905 years, and then he died.

5:12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 5:13 Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters. 5:14 The entire lifetime of Kenan was 910 years, and then he died.

5:15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. 5:16 Mahalalel lived 830 years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters. 5:17 The entire lifetime of Mahalalel was 895 years, and then he died.

5:18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 5:19 Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. 5:20 The entire lifetime of Jared was 962 years, and then he died.

5:21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 5:22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God ¹⁵  for 300 years, ¹⁶  and he had other ¹⁷  sons and daughters. 5:23 The entire lifetime of Enoch was 365 years. 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared ¹⁸  because God took ¹⁹  him away.

5:25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 5:26 Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other ²⁰  sons and daughters. 5:27 The entire lifetime of Methuselah was 969 years, and then he died.

5:28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 5:29 He named him Noah, ²¹  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ²²  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.” 5:30 Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other ²³  sons and daughters. 5:31 The entire lifetime of Lamech was 777 years, and then he died.

5:32 After Noah was 500 years old, he ²⁴  became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 18:5

18:5 And let me get ²⁵  a bit of food ²⁶  so that you may refresh yourselves ²⁷  since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” ²⁸  “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”

Genesis 19:3

19:3 But he urged ²⁹  them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate.

Genesis 19:11

19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ³⁰  with blindness. The men outside ³¹  wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Genesis 24:15-17

24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah ³²  with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor). ³³  24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ³⁴  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. 24:17 Abraham’s servant ³⁵  ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.”

Genesis 24:1

The Wife for Isaac

24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, ³⁶  and the Lord had blessed him ³⁷  in everything.

Genesis 19:8

19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ³⁸  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ³⁹  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ⁴⁰  of my roof.” ⁴¹ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “book” or “roll.” Cf. NIV “written account”; NRSV “list.”

[5:1]  ² tn Heb “generations.” See the note on the phrase “this is the account of” in 2:4.

[5:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has אָדָם (’adam).

[5:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “him.” The Hebrew text uses the third masculine singular pronominal suffix on the accusative sign. The pronoun agrees grammatically with its antecedent אָדָם (’adam). However, the next verse makes it clear that אָדָם is collective here and refers to “humankind,” so it is preferable to translate the pronoun with the English plural.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word used here is אָדָם (’adam).

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and Adam lived 130 years.” In the translation the verb is subordinated to the following verb, “and he fathered,” and rendered as a temporal clause.

[5:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “The days of Adam.”

[5:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “he fathered.”

[5:4]  ⁹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the days of Adam which he lived”

[5:5]  ¹¹ sn The genealogy traces the line from Adam to Noah and forms a bridge between the earlier accounts and the flood story. Its constant theme of the reign of death in the human race is broken once with the account of Enoch, but the genealogy ends with hope for the future through Noah. See further G. F. Hasel, “The Genealogies of Gen. 5 and 11 and their Alleged Babylonian Background,” AUSS 16 (1978): 361-74; idem, “Genesis 5 and 11,” Origins 7 (1980): 23-37.

[5:6]  ¹² tn Heb “he fathered.”

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “he fathered.”

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Here and in vv. 10, 13, 16, 19 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:22]  ¹⁵ sn With the seventh panel there is a digression from the pattern. Instead of simply saying that Enoch lived, the text observes that he “walked with God.” The rare expression “walked with” (the Hitpael form of the verb הָלָךְ, halakh, “to walk” collocated with the preposition אֶת, ’et, “with”) is used in 1 Sam 25:15 to describe how David’s men maintained a cordial and cooperative relationship with Nabal’s men as they worked and lived side by side in the fields. In Gen 5:22 the phrase suggests that Enoch and God “got along.” This may imply that Enoch lived in close fellowship with God, leading a life of devotion and piety. An early Jewish tradition, preserved in 1 En. 1:9 and alluded to in Jude 14, says that Enoch preached about the coming judgment. See F. S. Parnham, “Walking with God,” EvQ 46 (1974): 117-18.

[5:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and Enoch walked with God, after he became the father of Methuselah, [for] 300 years.”

[5:22]  ¹⁷ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:24]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew construction has the negative particle אֵין (’en, “there is not,” “there was not”) with a pronominal suffix, “he was not.” Instead of saying that Enoch died, the text says he no longer was present.

[5:24]  ¹⁹ sn The text simply states that God took Enoch. Similar language is used of Elijah’s departure from this world (see 2 Kgs 2:10). The text implies that God overruled death for this man who walked with him.

[5:26]  ²⁰ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:29]  ²¹ sn The name Noah appears to be related to the Hebrew word נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”). There are several wordplays on the name “Noah” in the story of the flood.

[5:29]  ²² tn The Hebrew verb יְנַחֲמֵנוּ (yÿnakhamenu) is from the root נָחָם (nakham), which means “to comfort” in the Piel verbal stem. The letters נ (nun) and ח (heth) pick up the sounds in the name “Noah,” forming a paronomasia on the name. They are not from the same verbal root, and so the connection is only by sound. Lamech’s sentiment reflects the oppression of living under the curse on the ground, but also expresses the hope for relief in some way through the birth of Noah. His words proved to be ironic but prophetic. The relief would come with a new beginning after the flood. See E. G. Kraeling, “The Interpretations of the Name Noah in Genesis 5:29,” JBL 48 (1929): 138-43.

[5:30]  ²³ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:32]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Noah.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[18:5]  ²⁵ tn The Qal cohortative here probably has the nuance of polite request.

[18:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a piece of bread.” The Hebrew word לֶחֶם (lekhem) can refer either to bread specifically or to food in general. Based on Abraham’s directions to Sarah in v. 6, bread was certainly involved, but v. 7 indicates that Abraham had a more elaborate meal in mind.

[18:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “strengthen your heart.” The imperative after the cohortative indicates purpose here.

[18:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “so that you may refresh yourselves, after [which] you may be on your way – for therefore you passed by near your servant.”

[19:3]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew verb פָּצַר (patsar, “to press, to insist”) ironically foreshadows the hostile actions of the men of the city (see v. 9, where the verb also appears). The repetition of the word serves to contrast Lot to his world.

[19:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”

[19:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:15]  ³² tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out!” Using the participle introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator dramatically transports the audience back into the event and invites them to see Rebekah through the servant’s eyes.

[24:15]  ³³ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out – [she] who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham – and her jug [was] on her shoulder.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.

[24:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the servant.” The word “Abraham’s” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “days.”

[24:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

[19:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “who have not known.” Here this expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[19:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes.”

[19:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “shadow.”

[19:8]  ⁴¹ sn This chapter portrays Lot as a hypocrite. He is well aware of the way the men live in his city and is apparently comfortable in the midst of it. But when confronted by the angels, he finally draws the line. But he is nevertheless willing to sacrifice his daughters’ virginity to protect his guests. His opposition to the crowds leads to his rejection as a foreigner by those with whom he had chosen to live. The one who attempted to rescue his visitors ends up having to be rescued by them.